Diagonal Movement - Better or Worse?

[Ander00]

I was considering houseruling the old distance rules back in, but after actually using the new rules for a while, I quite like them.

If you want to change things, it shouldn't really be a problem, but has your DM/group tried the rules in actual play yet? You may find that it doesn't take all that much getting used to, after all.


cheers

 

[James McMurray]

Personally, I wish they'd sidestep the whole issue and just go with hexes.

Hexes make for very ugly rooms and corridors in dungeons. You're almost forced to end up with lots of half-hexes laying around.

 

[taza]

If you're going to go with a 1.5 diagonal rule, you might want to consider moving to hex instead. I'm considering house ruling hex spaces for a more realistic feel. Blasts translate particularly well, and as long as your players don't mind kind of wavy looking walls everything should be fine.

 

[Mercule]

I hated the rule when I heard about it and declared I'd make it my first house rule, without even trying it.

Well, I did end up trying it for the one session of KotS we played. The most rules-intensive player in my group, who I was sure would also hate the 1:1 movement, complained about pretty much everything except the 1:1 movement, which he actually praised pretty highly. Everyone else just did it naturally and found it easier.

I think I still like 1:2 better, but it's not a big enough deal for me to worry about it. Especially since I appear to be in an extreme minority. It really ain't that bad.

 

[Skyscraper]

1:1 is much better. Try it before you switch to 1:1.5

Sky

 

[keterys]

1:1 movement is something that irks a lot of mathematically offended people... and for good reason.

My advice remains the same: play with it for several sessions. If you still object, change away. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I firmly support 1:1 as a rules change. Big gameplay improvement. Well worth the cost.

 

[Asmor]

Hexes make for very ugly rooms and corridors in dungeons. You're almost forced to end up with lots of half-hexes laying around.

Actually, it's not that hard at all to make right angles on a hex map, if you don't mind the proportions being a bit off (e.g. vertical hallways appearing thinner than horizontal hallways, even though both are 1 hex wide).

The secret is drawing in the lines between the hexes, and snipping off 1 or 2 corners. You end up without full hexes, but you get 90% of the hex on one side and 10% on the other side, so it's clear where you can fit and where you can't.

 

[James McMurray]

True, but I'd just rather follow the lines.

We've used hx mapping on and off. I've got an unopened hex map in the basement, and the flip side of the map we use every week is hexed. But it got too annoying when trying to draw anything involving walls. Works great for outdoor stuff though.

Luckily, 1:1 counting makes hex mapping unnecessary.

 

[Mercule]

True, but I'd just rather follow the lines.

We've used hx mapping on and off. I've got an unopened hex map in the basement, and the flip side of the map we use every week is hexed. But it got too annoying when trying to draw anything involving walls. Works great for outdoor stuff though.

Luckily, 1:1 counting makes hex mapping unnecessary.

My issue with hexes isn't so much the mapping as it is that I've found lateral movement to be much more common than diagonal. With squares, you have to grit your teeth 20% (making up numbers) of the time, but hexes make you grit your teeth 35% of the time. Even if it was an equal frequency, I find lateral hex movement to be significantly more jarring than diagonal grid movement. In all honesty, I can't fathom why anyone favors hexes for anything.

 

[frankthedm]

Can't stand the 1-1-1-1 diagonal movement and square explosions. Not a big fan of grids in general though. They have their uses, though IMHO the are something you 'grow out of'. Grids to me say "You are not trusted to measure honestly and or accurately." Hexes to me feel more organic than square grids, though by the time the group can handle hex based movement, they generaly are ready to get rid of the grid and measure.